Reply to Calvin’s Antidote to Trent on Justification

Highlighting “Working Together with God” and Our Grounds for “Boasting” and “Pride” in the Meritorious Work We and Other Christians Do for the Sake of God and Evangelism

This is a reply to John Calvin’s Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote (Nov. 1547), specifically his comments on the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent (Jan. 1547), regarding justification. The online treatise is taken from Selected Works of John Calvin: Tracts and Letters, Vol. 3: Tracts, Part 3; edited and translated by Henry Beveridge (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1851). I have a hardcover copy of this volume in my own library: a reprint from Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1983).

John Calvin’s words will be in blue; citations from Trent in green. I use RSV for biblical citations.

See Part Two.

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The doctrine of man’s Justification would be easily explained, did not the false opinions by which the minds of men are preoccupied, spread darkness over the clear light.

I totally agree!; totally disagree, however, as to the theological system inside which, and because of which most of these errors are found.

The principal cause of obscurity, however, is, that we are with the greatest difficulty induced to leave the glory of righteousness entire to God alone. For we always desire to be somewhat, and such is our folly, we even think we are. As this pride was innate in man from the first, so it opened a door for Satan to imbue them with many impious and vicious conceits with which we have this day to contend. And in all ages there have been sophists exercising their pen in extolling human righteousness, as they knew it would be popular. 

First of all, God massively shares His glory with us, as I have amply proven from Scripture. Secondly, Calvin, exhibiting his typical unbiblical “either/or” error of thought, doesn’t grasp that the good works that regenerated, initially justified believers do are simultaneously God’s own. Therefore, He gets ultimate credit for them, while at the same time they are truly our own, too. That’s the biblical, Hebraic “both/and” outlook on life and theology. Many Bible passages teach this:

Mark 16:20 And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.

Romans 15:17-19  In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. [18] For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, [19] by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, . . .

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers . . .

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. (cf. 15:58)

2 Corinthians 6:1 Working together with him, . . .

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Philippians 2:12-13 . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; [13] for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (cf. Titus 3:5-8)

This cooperation with God can also make us actually righteous (infused justification), by His grace, provided we are willing to cooperate:

Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Romans 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. . . .

2 Corinthians 5:21 . . . in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Ephesians 4:24 and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Philippians 1:9-11 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, [10] so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, [11] filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 3:8-9 . . . For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ
[9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith;

What I find so remarkable is that a man as theologically educated as Calvin can miss so much Scripture! I just cited fourteen passages. Who’s more biblical here? But Calvin chooses to simply ramble on, giving his opinions while ignoring what inspired revelation actually teaches about the same topics. He does this — quite annoyingly — in much of his Antidote. I prefer to concentrate, thank you, on what Sacred Scripture teaches, not men’s minds (however “brilliant”) without immediate recourse to same. We all have to be grounded in the Bible, not our own thoughts, which too often wander from that reliable, never-failing standard.

When by the singular kindness of God, the impiety of Pelagius was repudiated with the common consent of the ancient Church, they no longer dared to talk so pertly of human merit. 

Human merit, necessarily brought about by God’s grace (God crowning His own gifts,” as St. Augustine described it) is not Pelagian works-salvation. This is the obnoxious fallacy always spouted by Calvin, and his Calvinist followers, and many other Protestants. If such works are simultaneously God’s and our own (1 Cor 15:10 above), totally enabled by Him from the outset, that’s not mere human works. The Bible teaches that meritorious works are good and required. I found 38 Bible passages that teach this. If Calvin wants to disbelieve that much Scripture, then he needs to refute all of it and prove that they don’t mean what they sure appear to mean, and find other ones that teach otherwise. But I’m sure he won’t do that. I’ve replied to him so many times I know how he operates by now.

Trent in its Chapter XVI on Justification, stated that “Jesus Christ Himself continually infuses his virtue into the said justified,-as the head into the members, and the vine into the branches,-and this virtue always precedes and accompanies and follows their good works, which without it could not in any wise be pleasing and meritorious before God . . .God forbid that a Christian should either trust or glory in himself, and not in the Lord, whose bounty towards all men is so great, that He will have the things which are His own gifts be their merits.” Canon XXXII reiterates that “the good works” of the justified person are those “which he performs through the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ.” Both/and.

They, however, devised a middle way, by which they might not give God the whole in justification, and yet give something. 

We didn’t “devise” anything. We follow what St. Paul taught in the above six passages. What’s “devised” is Calvin’s rejection of clear biblical teaching.

Nay, their definition at length contains nothing else than the trite dogma of the schools: that men are justified partly by the grace of God and partly by their own works; thus only showing themselves somewhat more modest than Pelagius was.

It’s not either/or in this sense, because our works are at the same time, God’s (working with us, through grace [1 Cor 15:10], and power [Phil 2:13]). Calvin vainly tries to pretend that we teach that they are wholly and only our own works and divorced from the necessary connection to God’s 100% causal grace. We simply cooperate with Him. That can’t possibly be Pelagianism. Nor is it Semi-Pelagianism. But Protestants — stuck in the “either/or” hyper-rationalistic rut, have been falsely accusing us of those heresies for over 500 years, and, sadly, it won’t ever stop. Wikipedia, citing the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, states:

A distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semi-Pelagian thought teaches that the latter half – growing in faith – is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will, with grace supervening only later.

That’s emphatically not Catholic teaching, and this was made clear in Canons I-III of the Sixth Session:

CANON I.-If any one saith, that man may be justified before God by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ; let him be anathema.

CANON II.-If any one saith, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, is given only for this, that man may be able more easily to live justly, and to merit eternal life, as if, by free will without grace, he were able to do both, though hardly indeed and with difficulty; let him be anathema.

CANON III.-If any one saith, that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, so as that the grace of Justification may be bestowed upon him; let him be anathema.

Later on in his reply, Calvin offers a rare note of agreement, in stating, “To Canons 1, 2, and 3:, I say, Amen.” So he reads those and agrees. But they clearly teach that we reject both Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Yet nevertheless, here he is accusing us of these heresies, anyway, either contradicting himself or showing that he has gotten the definitions of those heresies wrong. It’s one or the other. That said, justification by works (alongside faith and grace) is biblical teaching, too:

Genesis 18:19 I have chosen him [Abraham], that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.

Romans 2:7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life

Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

James 2:24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

they certainly understand that the human will has still some power left to choose good. . . . let them say whether he who makes us to be willing simply assists the will. 

The regenerate, grace-enabled will can choose good, but not the unregenerate will, per Canons I-III above. Calvin confuses the two categories. That’s where he goes astray and starts misrepresenting Catholic theology. Alas, his prodigious powers of rationality fail him. Moreover, Trent’s Chapter V on Justification is quite plain when it declares that unregenerate man is “not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight.”

For if the will were wholly depraved, its health would not only be impaired but lost until it were renewed. 

Total depravity is not required here; only an inability to save ourselves without God’s grace. It doesn’t thereby follow that we were maximally wicked through and through, in every conceivable way, as a result of the Fall and original sin. See my articles:

Calvinist Total Depravity vs. Catholic Concupiscence [1996]

Total Depravity: Reply to James White: Calvinism and Romans 3:10-11 (“None is Righteous . . . No One Seeks For God”) [4-15-07]

Calvinist Total Depravity: Does Romans 1 Apply to All Men? [4-10-08]

2nd Council of Orange: Sola Gratia vs. Total Depravity [1-5-09]

Bible vs. the Reformed Doctrine of Total Depravity [2010]

St. Augustine, Calvin, & Calvinists Regarding Total Depravity [1-7-14]

Paul claims the whole work for God; they ascribe nothing to him but a little help. 

This distorts the Catholic view, as shown. It’s an outrageous caricature.

Is this the doctrine delivered by Augustine, when he says, “Men labor to find in our will some good thing of our own not given us of God; what they can find I know not?” (Aug. Lib. de Precator. Merit. et Remiss. 2.)

Exactly. Chapter XVI on Justification teaches the same: “Jesus Christ Himself continually infuses his virtue into the said justified,-as the head into the members, and the vine into the branches,-and this virtue always precedes and accompanies and follows their good works, which without it could not in any wise be pleasing and meritorious before God”. Canon IV teaches that our “free will” is “moved and excited by God.”

Moreover, God promises not to act so that we may be able to will well, but to make us will well. 

Yep; that is stated in Philippians 2:13, that I cited above. Two sentences later, Calvin sites it. I am answering as I read, which is my custom in these dialogues.

The hallucination of these Fathers is in dreaming that we are offered a movement which leaves us an intermediate choice, while they never think of that effectual working by which the heart of man is renewed from pravity to rectitude.

Catholics believe in the predestination of the elect, just as Calvinists and other Protestants do. What we deny over against Calvinists (in this instance, in agreement with most Protestants) is predestination to hell.

What then, you will ask, does Augustine mean when he speaks of the freedom of the will? Just what he so often repeats, that men are not forced by the grace of God against their will, but ruled voluntarily, so as to obey and follow of their own accord, and this because their will from being bad is turned to good. Hence he says, “We therefore will, but God works in us also to will. We work, but God causes us also to work.” Again, “The good which we possess not without our own will we should never possess unless he worked in us also to will.” Again, “It is certain that we will when we are willing, but he makes us to be willing. It is certain that we do when we do, but he makes us to do by affording most effectual strength to the will.” 

This is exactly Catholic teaching, as shown in the citations from Trent above, and in the Scriptures I produced, that we fully believe in.

The whole may be thus summed up — Their error consists in sharing the work between God and ourselves, so as to transfer to ourselves the obedience of a pious will in assenting to divine grace, whereas this is the proper work of God himself.

Again, Calvin badly distorts our teaching. Canons I-III obviously agree with this and Calvin agreed with them, so he is again fighting with other statements he has made, which were accurate as to our view.

“He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:19.)

Can anything be clearer than that we are regarded as righteous in the sight of God, because our sins have been expiated by Christ, and no longer hold us under liability?

Calvin wants to make out that this is merely imputed, declared, forensic righteousness, but that is not at all certain in the text itself. Two chapters later, Paul writes quite like a Catholic who believes in infused justification and sanctification as part and parcel of it:

2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God. (cf. Jas 4:8)

This is not merely declaring that we are cleansed, but actual cleansing. Immediately before this passage (and the original NT had no chapters and verses) we find the following:

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? [15] What accord has Christ with Be’lial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? [16] What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; . . .

St. Peter adds:

1 Peter 1:14-16, 22 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, [15] but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; [16] since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” . . . [22] Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart.

2 Peter 3:11 . . . what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

It is not to be denied, however, that the two things, Justification and Sanctification, are constantly conjoined and cohere; but from this it is erroneously inferred that they are one and the same. For example: — The light of the sun, though never unaccompanied with heat, is not to be considered heat. Where is the man so undiscerning as not to distinguish the one from the other? We acknowledge, then, that as soon as any one is justified, renewal also necessarily follows: and there is no dispute as to whether or not Christ sanctifies all whom he justifies. It were to rend the gospel, and divide Christ himself, to attempt to separate the righteousness which we obtain by faith from repentance.

This section is good!

The whole dispute is as to The Cause of Justification. The Fathers of Trent pretend that it is twofold, as if we were justified partly by forgiveness of sins and partly by spiritual regeneration; or, to express their view in other words, as if our righteousness were composed partly of imputation, partly of quality. I maintain that it is one, and simple, and is wholly included in the gratuitous acceptance of God. I besides hold that it is without us, because we are righteous in Christ only. Let them produce evidence from Scripture, if they have any, to convince us of their doctrine.

Happy to oblige:

Bible vs. “Faith Alone”: 100 Proofs (100 Bible Passages On Catholic Justification, Sanctification, and Faith + Works [from 22 out of 27 NT Books]: All Disproving Protestant “Faith Alone” Soteriology)

While I admit that we are never received into the favor of God without being at the same time regenerated to holiness of life, [I] contend that it is false to say that any part of righteousness (justification) consists in quality, or in the habit which resides in us, and that we are righteous (justified) only by gratuitous acceptance.  . . . 

For however small the portion attributed to our work, to that extent faith will waver, and our whole salvation be endangered. 

Paul did write the following:

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 . . . may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, [13] so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Once again, it’s all from God’s grace, and at the same time we participate and cooperate and in so doing, obtain merit: just as in Catholicism. When we love other people, that’s a good work; something we do, and it’s not just a matter of robots doing what they must do, at God’s command. Hence, St. Paul could write, “I have reason to be proud of my work for God” (Rom 15:17). Paul mentions this theme of being “proud” or being able to “boast” about himself and his work five more times:

2 Corinthians 1:12, 14 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world, . . . [14] . . . you can be proud of us as we can be of you . . .

2 Corinthians 5:12 . . . giving you cause to be proud of us, . . .

2 Corinthians 10:8, 13 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame. . . . [13] But we will not boast beyond limit, . . .

2 Corinthians 11:10, 12 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Acha’ia. . . . [12] And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. (he continues in a sarcastic sense, in verses 16-18, 21, 30)

Philippians 2:16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

And he’s proud of other Christians who are being good disciples, too; he never writes anything remotely like the Calvinist mentality of “God did absolutely everything and we did nothing meritorious, because everything we do is worthless and hopelessly sinful!” Rather, he writes as follows, in nine passages:

1 Corinthians 9:15-18 . . . I would rather die than have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting. [16] For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! [17] For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. [18] What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:31 . . . my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord . . .

2 Corinthians 7:4, 14 I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; . . . [14] For if I have expressed to him some pride in you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true.

2 Corinthians 8:24 So give proof, before the churches, of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

2 Corinthians 9:2-3 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedo’nia, saying that Acha’ia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. [3] But I am sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

2 Corinthians 12:5 On behalf of this man I will boast, . . .

Galatians 6:4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?

2 Thessalonians 1:4  Therefore we ourselves boast of you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are enduring.

Having expressed all that praise of and pride in his own work and that of other Christians, Paul grounds it in the following six passages, in God’s enabling grace, as always:

Romans 11:18 . . . If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.

1 Corinthians 1:29, 31 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. . . . [31] therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 3:21 So let no one boast of men. . . .

1 Corinthians 4:7 . . . What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

2 Corinthians 10:17-18 “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.” [18] For it is not the man who commends himself that is accepted, but the man whom the Lord commends.

2 Corinthians 12:5-6, 9 . . . on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. [6] Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. . . . [9] but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Both things are simultaneously true: we can boast of our good works (imitating Paul as our model, as he says several times that we ought to do), and we can and must give God the ultimate credit for them. I try to make a regular habit of saying, “all glory to God” when someone compliments my work. But I say “thanks” too. I don’t pretend that I did nothing at all. I did do something! And God at the same time did it through me.

But for Calvin and Calvinists, all of this is unsavory bragging, making man higher than he is in the scheme of things, and a usurpation of God’s glory and grace: praising men at the expense of God (as if this is godless Pelagianism). They’re dead wrong. The Bible roundly refutes them, as we see in the many Bible passages I provided above.

John Calvin is so brazen and carnal in his thought, as to actually blaspheme Jesus Christ Himself, when he, in effect, mocks and rejects His answer to the rich young ruler:

It were long and troublesome to note every blunder, but there is one too important to be omitted. They add, “that when catechumens ask faith from the Church, the answer is, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.’” (Matthew 19:17.) Wo to their catechumens, if so hard a condition is laid upon them! For what else is this but to lay them under an eternal curse, since they acknowledge with Paul, that all are under the curse who are subject to the law? (Galatians 3:10.) But they have the authority of Christ! I wish they would observe to what intent Christ thus spake. This can only be ascertained from the context, and the character of the persons. He to whom Christ replies had asked, What must I do to have eternal life? Assuredly, whosoever wishes to merit life by works, has a rule prescribed to him by the law, “This do, and thou shalt live.” But attention must be paid to the object of this as intimated by Paul, viz., that man experiencing his powers, or rather convinced of his powerlessness, may lay aside his pride, and flee all naked to Christ. There is no room for the righteousness of faith until we have discovered that it is in vain that salvation is promised us by the law. . . . so preposterous are the Fathers of Trent, that while it is the office of Moses to lead us by the hand to Christ, (Galatians 3:24,) they lead us away from the grace of Christ to Moses.

Note the outrageous implications of this supposed “exegesis” of the passage (which is really eisegesis: reading into it what isn’t there). He cites Catholics giving catechumens the very words of Christ from Matthew 19:17 and then has the audacity to describe this as “what else is this but to lay them under an eternal curse . . .?”!!! Calvin acts as if the ruler is a special case, bound to the Law alone. But the passage need not read that way at all. It’s a generic question that he asked (“What must I do to have eternal life?”).

If Calvin and Protestantism and “faith alone” are correct, Jesus would certainly have had to say something very much like, “Why do you ask me about doing something to obtain eternal life? You can’t do anything. All you need to do is have faith in Me.” But of course in reality, Jesus’ answer was to keep the commandments. That was how to be saved and attain to eternal life in heaven. Once the man said that he had done that, then Jesus said he also had to give away all of his possessions: a thing not required in the Law of Moses, as far as I understand it; so Calvin’s recourse to the dreaded “law” as the explanation of all here, falls flat.

Calvin then has the gall to try to pit blasphemously St. Paul against Jesus. But Paul taught the same: following the commandments is simply acting in love, which sums up and fulfills all of God’s laws (Rom 13:8-10; cf. Gal 5:14). Then in context he proclaimed, “salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (13:11). The commandments and love, therefore, cannot be formally separated from justification and salvation, as Protestants sadly believe. St. John agrees with Jesus and Paul, too:

1 John 2:3-5 And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. [4] He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; [5] but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him:

1 John 3:24 All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.

Revelation 14:12-13 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. [13] And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Even back in the book of Genesis, before the Mosaic Law had been given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, the same teaching is present, in what God said to Isaac:

Genesis 26:3-5 . . . “I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. [4] I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves: [5] because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

St. James comments on Abraham:

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?

Lest they should not be liberal enough in preaching up the powers of man, they again repeat, under this head, that the Spirit of God acts in us according to the proper disposedness and co-operation of each. What disposedness, pray, will the Spirit of God find in stony hearts? Are they not ashamed to feign a disposedness, when the Spirit himself uniformly declares in Scripture that all things are contrary? For the commencement of grace is to make those willing who were unwilling, and therefore repugnant; so that faith, as well in its beginnings as its increase, even to its final perfection, is the gift of God;

This is exactly what Trent in its Sixth Session taught:

CANON III.-If any one saith, that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, so as that the grace of Justification may be bestowed upon him; let him be anathema.

Calvin ends up preaching to the choir. As I have already noted, he is on record agreeing with the first three canons on justification. So why does he continue to quixotically argue as if we didn’t believe what we clearly do, and which he himself agreed with?

“God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, according as he hath chosen us in Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.” (Ephesians 1:3.)

By these words he certainly restrains us, while receiving so great a blessing from God, from glorying in the decision of our will, as Augustine again says. (Ibid. c. 8.) This which man ought to receive as at the hands of God, is he to oppose to him as a merit of his own? 

I have shown how Paul constantly boasted in his accomplishments and those of others; while giving God all the glory. It’s not contradictory; it’s not opposition to God. Rather, it’s the biblical and Hebraic “both/and” outlook, which Calvin is too rationalistic and caught up in men’s philosophies and traditions to grasp. It’s sad, since it is repeated and explicit biblical teaching. As for “glorying,” St. Paul even wrote, utterly contrary to Calvin’s argument above: “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life . . . glory and honor and peace for every one who does good” (Rom 2:7, 10) and “we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God” (Rom 5:2).

We are justified freely, they say, because no works which precede justification merit it. But when Paul takes away all ground of glorying from Abraham, on the ground that faith was imputed to him for righteousness, he immediately subjoins by way of proof — where works are, there a due reward is paid, whereas what is given to faith is gratuitous. Let us observe that he is, speaking of the holy Patriarch. Paul affirms, that at the time when he renounced the world to devote himself entirely to God, he was not justified by any works. If these spurious Fathers object, that it was then only he began to be justified, the quibble is plainly refuted by the context of the Sacred History. He had for many years exercised himself in daily prayer to God, and he had constantly followed the call of God, wherein was contained the promise of eternal life. Must they not therefore be thrice blind who see no gratuitous righteousness of God, except in the very vestibule, and think that the merit of works pervades the edifice? But it is proper to attend to the gloss by which they attempt to cloak this gross impiety, viz., that in this way they satisfy the Apostle’s sentiment,

“If it be of grace, then it is no more of works.” (Romans 11:5)

Abraham was justified both by faith and works, as I have written about at length: Abraham: Justified Twice by Works & Once by Faith [8-30-23]. Even Calvin wrote, “He had for many years exercised himself in daily prayer to God, and he had constantly followed the call of God, wherein was contained the promise of eternal life.” That is, of course, two works; rewarded by eternal life, so Calvin backs into Catholic teaching; seemingly not being aware of it. But we have seen that he is no stranger to not infrequent self-contradiction.

Go to Part Two.

Photo credit: Historical mixed media figure of John Calvin produced by artist/historian George S. Stuart and photographed by Peter d’Aprix: from the George S. Stuart Gallery of Historical Figures archive [Wikimedia Commons / Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]

Summary: Part I of my critical examination of John Calvin’s 1547 treatise, “Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote”: regarding the issue of justification by faith, and salvation.